WONDERS OF SOUND TRAVEL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18438, 23 March 1922, Page 5

WONDERS OF SOUND TRAVEL

NOISES HEARD FOUR MILES ABOVE THE EARTH.

A famous balloonist named Glaisher always found that sounds from the earth varied according to the damp, riess or dryness of the air. When in the clouds four miles above the earth, he heard a railway train, but when the clouds were, far below him, all was silent. Two miles up he heard the barking of a small dog, yet at less than half that height he failed to hear the shouting of a crowd of people. Another balloonist, the Rev. J. M. Bacon, found how wonderfully piercing was the shriek of a railway whistle. The shouts of children were always the first to be heard among the many sounds rising from human beings.

A COCK’S CROW IN THE CLOUDS. The discharge of a gun was heard by Glaisher at a height of two miles. Bacon’s experience in this respect was curious. He was ballooning between Woolwich and Plumsted when he heard what he imagined to be the spasmodic yelp of a dog. It was the sound of artillery practice on Plumsted Marshes a mile below. Each sound was heard for one instant only, and reminded him of those flashes of lightning which are followed by a single roar of thunder. At a height of between 5,000 ft. and 6,000 ft. Glaisher could hear the deep sound of London rising like the roar of the sea. At a greater height still, the sound had sunk to a mere murmur, while at a height of four miles above London all was hushed A noted French balloonist discovered that he could hear the crowing of a cock and the sound of a church bell at 5,000 ft.